The Path of Twilight
by Lady Demosthenes
Summary: A Suzuka fic. It starts out on Suzuka's home planet and explains her past experiences with the pirates and losing her family. The original two lined chapter four wasn't the real chapter four! I made an uploading mistake and the actual chap. 4 is up!r
1. Default Chapter

Chapter One: The Place I Call Home  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own any Outlaw Star characters.  
  
In all of the Planet Rykona, there was none a grander house than the Syteno household. The pride of the planet, it stood tall as a stunning edifice for all to marvel at. The owner of the house was the renowned Kimatan Syteno, a great noble of the planet that was dearly loved by all. Kimatan had a fourteen-year-old daughter named Suzuka. Her beauty was greater than any other lady of Rykona with her midnight black hair and penetrating eyes. Many a night she could be seen resting her elbows on the balcony of her room and gazing eagerly at the stars. Truly, of all children, her life was the very best. Little did she know, though, that soon her life would take the turn for the worst.  
  
"Have you done your homework for school tomorrow?" Mrs. Syteno interrupted her daughter's star gazing.   
  
"Yes, mother," Suzuka sighed, "by the way, we have another sword fighting tournament tomorrow."  
  
"Oh dear," her mother said, "I'm afraid I have meetings all day tomorrow, I won't be able to make it."  
  
"It's alright," Suzuka answered but at the same time thinking, "I was ready for you to say that since you never can make it." Her mother smiled, oblivious to Suzuka's true thoughts and leaned over to hug her.  
  
"I promise I will come next time," her mother whispered into her ear, but there never would be a next time.   



	2. Swordswoman

Chapter Two: Swordswoman  
  
The noonday sun beat against the backs of the people gathered to watch the sword-fighting tournament. Each year, inhabitants of Rykona would gather from near and far to watch the best of the best battle in the annual tournament. Suzuka had watched anxiously each year waiting patiently until she reached the age of fourteen, so she could enter the tournament. But instead of waiting idly, she had entered in contests for sword fighting in the young divisions where there was not much competition. Now her day had finally come. Most of the contestants were young men… in fact she couldn't see one girl in the contestants area so far. Standing there on the stage waiting for her turn made her nervous. "No Suzuka, control yourself," she kept thinking, "you are better than all of them!"  
  
"Hi," one of the boys next to her started a conversation.  
  
"Hello," Suzuka answered nonchalantly.  
  
"Did you take a wrong turn somewhere?" he asked pushing back his blond hair.  
  
"What are you talking about?" she answered him with a question.  
  
"Well, I mean, you know this is the sword fighting tournament… and you are a girl.." he started but she stopped him by putting her sword to his throat.  
  
"How many sunsets will you see before you will be beaten by me?" she said angrily.  
  
The blond boy took a step back; he obviously got her message. Suzuka smiled, hopefully when she battled him he'd be too overcome with fear to properly think. The boy quickly skipped off to tell his other friends about "the woman" he had just spoken too.  
  
"Go and tell your friends," she whispered to herself grinning.   
  
A middle aged man walked around explaining the procedures, "Now, first of all, this is like any elimination tournament, if you lose you are eliminated. We have everyone split into two groups- the blue and the red. In the end the champion of each group will battle in the finals for the title of best junior sword fighter on the planet. The tournament will take about a week, and you may or may not have to battle everyday." The man went around assigning which group they were in. When the man passed by Suzuka he winked and gave her a slip of paper- she was in the red group and her first battle would be today against a man named Fylen. She had never heard of Fylen, but that didn't mean she should go about underestimating him.  
  
"The biggest mistake one can make is underestimating one's adversary," she thought as she walked off to prepare for her battle.  
  
  
  
As I said on my summary, this is my first Outlaw fic, so please R and R so I know how you like it.  



	3. The First Battle

Chapter Three: The First Battle  
  
After waiting patiently in the arena, Fylen finally arrived. He was rather handsome, but Suzuka didn't have any time to sum up his looks lest it distract her during battle. He pushed back his chocolate brown hair and pulled out his sword. She in turn pulled out hers and raised it towards the sky. The rays of the sun dazzled against the sword and made it shine so bright that any who looked upon it would have been blinded. The boy smiled determined, with his emerald eyes flashing. The referee, who was a skilled swordsmen stood in the corner recited the rules, "I'm sure you all already know the rules being skilled sword fighters and all, but remember, the battle ends when the enemies sword touches your red suit, so that means no facial contact." He then gave the nod for the battle to begin. As in tradition the two youths bowed before commencing the fight. Their swords clashed creating a melody that only made the desire to win grow stronger. Left, right, left, right, they fought so rhythmically and beautifully, so graceful like ballerinas, except not as timid.  
  
"You want to win, ne?" Fylen asked her casually. Suzuka quickly understood, his technique was to distract the opponent with chitchat. She wasn't about to fall for it. It would only intimidate him and throw him off guard if she kept silent. So silence, she was, silent like the cheetah stalking her prey.  
  
"Well?" Fylen replied when she had kept quiet. He was answered in silence. Suzuka thrust her sword towards him but he quickly dodged out of the way.  
  
"Drat," she thought, "I figured I might have gotten him there." He lunged towards her as well, but she quickly managed to get out of the way.  
  
"Are you deaf and dumb?" Fylen interrogated arrogantly. Suzuka's eyes filled with that fire of rage. She leapt up into the sky, doing a front flip and she glided over him. She landed perfectly behind him. Before he could turn around, she gently placed her sword against the back of his suit. The battle was over, and she had been the victor. The referee walked up towards her and shook her hand declaring her the winner of the first battle.  
  
As Suzuka exited the battle arena, Fylen strutted up to her in his pompous manner, "Good job, girl, but next time, I'll win." With that terse statement he disappeared among the crowd of people coming to congratulate her. She knew that she should stay for the next battle, which would be out of the blue group contestants, but somehow her heart felt like going home. She walked towards home all alone, perhaps tomorrow she would come and watch the other contestants to sum up their fighting abilities.  



	4. The Strange Dream

Wow, I haven't updated this one in so long... please R and R.  
  
Time passed slowly, and the amount of time for Suzuka to reach her beloved home was longer than she had anticipated. Her feet beat rhythmically against the dust path on which she walked. She was well aware that if she had chosen, she could have easily been riding along at the moment in an emerald coach instead of traveling on foot like the destitute of the planet. However, she felt like the hedonistic life of riches did not suite one such as her. A warrior, she had always thought to herself, should live a detached life, training and working to attain the goal, which he or she desired. She lightly kicked a small round pebble on the path while all these thoughts swirled in her mind. A few moments later, she came up to the sight so familiar to her - the towering mansion envied by so many of the planet. The tall columns of ivory stretched endlessly to meet a golden roof delicately set with gemstones. She entered slowly, knowing in her mind that some servant would reprimand her for bringing dust into the house. Or certainly, one of her tutors would sigh in dismay at her condition. She could imagine them in her mind, so clearly spouting off angrily declaring "Suzuka! Look at yourself, is this a fit state for a high ranking lady such as yourself?" or "What would your mother say if she were to see you like this!?" However, Suzuka had learned not to care because they did not understand her; no one understood her. At first when she was younger and more naïve, this thought bothered her, but now she deemed it something trivial.  
  
"Hello Suzuka," the voice was sweet and soft, it was Cantara, one of her more favored servants. Cantara was perhaps the only one who did not become angry when she came home as disheveled as she usually did. Still, Cantara did not fully understand her like Suzuka would have liked someone to.  
  
"Is my mother home yet?" Suzuka knew the answer would be no, yet she felt compelled to ask.  
  
"No, I'm afraid not," she smiled apologetically.  
  
"I'll be in my room," and that was the end of the conversation. Suzuka marched up to firmly to her chamber, not even turning to look back. She stifled a yawn and laid down on her scarlet bedspreads in exhaustion. "Thank goodness," she thought, "if anyone saw me like this, they'd complain and saying I was getting my bedspread dirty." She lay there extremely still, allowing the minutes to waste away. Her eyes ached as they grew heavier, and she decided to succumb to the sleep that was overtaking her. Suzuka fell into a dreamy state..  
  
The room she stood in was filled with creamy white candles, each one burning with a great intensity. She looked around; all the candles were close together, except for one. One single candle stood in the far corner, secluded from the other candles. The lone candle was not creamy white like its peers, but instead a deep shade of scarlet. For some odd reason, Suzuka felt herself drawn to this candle, as if it represented some part of her life. Then, from nowhere, a gale whistled through the room - a shrill cacophony, like the song of the banshee. In an instant, every candle except one was extinguished. The one that still burned was the scarlet one, the pariah candle that burned far from the rest.  
  
Suzuka jumped from her bed, beads of sweat trickling down her forehead. She glanced at the clock; she had slept for about an hour. She was gasping for breath; the dream had seemed so haunting and it bothered her greatly. "Get yourself together foolish girl, you have a tournament to attend tomorrow," Suzuka muttered to herself. Still, though, her stomach churned as she strained to decipher the meaning of what she had dreamed. She was trying so hard to concentrate that she did not hear the door of her room open.  
  
"Are you ok?" Cantara asked bringing in a load of washed clothes.  
  
Suzuka let out a startled cry, which was unsuited for such a valiant warrior such as herself.  
  
"Miss Suzuka?" worry filled Cantara's timid hazel eyes.  
  
Suzuka nodded slowly, "Don't worry, you just startled me a bit ." Her heart raced as she tried to recall the dream once more.  
  
"Something bothering you?" Cantara interrogated kindly.  
  
Suzuka averted her eyes and pretended to suddenly become interested in her white curtains, "Oh no, no.. not at all." She hoped that Cantara would accept the lie and question no further.  
  
"If you say so, Miss Suzuka," Cantara put down the laundry basket and began to fold and put away the clothing. Suzuka, wanting to be alone, got up from her bed and made her way downstairs. She walked through the marble tiled halls and into the garden in the back of the house. Her clothes were still dirty, and Suzuka began to wish she had changed into something less soiled. However, she knew that soiled clothing should be the least of her worries at the moment. Usually, nightmares would never bother her; they would just stir her up for a few seconds after awakening, and then afterwards she would forget about them altogether. But this one was different, this dream seemed to hold a hidden meaning, and because Suzuka could not grasp this meaning, it began to pester her. She did not know how long she had been out there, but she knew when the sun began to set over the horizon that it was time for her to quit mulling and prepare to retire. Inside, dinner was already ready and set on to the table, but her parents were still not home.  
  
"I'm sorry Miss Suzuka," the cook informed her sadly, "but your parents are coming home late tonight." Suzuka nodded, it did not surprise her one bit that they weren't coming home while she was still awake. This was how life had played out the last few years - her parents always unavailable, having to go to events and having no one to come and cheer her on, and servants always playing the part of the intermediary. She finished her dinner quickly, even though she was not at all anxious to fall asleep. She wanted to put off sleeping as long as she could, but she also didn't want to stay downstairs to receive the sympathy of the servants. She heard it often, "Oh poor girl, parents out late again," or "Cheer up Suzuka, and we'll take care of you while they're gone." Suzuka thanked the cook hastily and then ran upstairs. First, she changed into a more comfortable outfit and then she lay down on her bed. She stared at the bright white ceilings and allowed her mind to drift far away. Far away to another planet, another universe, another life where she was a might warrior feared by all who dared get in her path and where she never had to depend on anyone to take care of her. An independent life free of servants and regulations, and most of all - free of pain. Her eyes began to droop and she could feel herself slipping from reality and entering sleep. She tried to stop herself, but it was too late - sleep was the victor and soon she was deep in slumber.  
  
That's it for now! Tell me how you like it. ^^ 


End file.
